“This is a new and important element. The Astana peace talks summit in Turkey will be held after the Nur-Sultan meeting,” he added, Tass reported.

“We need specific agreements to consolidate them at the highest political level during the summit,” Bogdanov stated.

Answering a question on how the Idlib situation is resolved, particularly in the context of shelling of Turkish watch posts, he said, “(Russian) military colleagues are in constant contact with all the invested parties, naturally with Syria, Turkey, Iran and the United States. They (the military) are monitoring the developments on the ground. The key task is to eliminate the terrorist presence from the Syrian territory, from the Idlib zone, swarmed by tens of thousands of terrorists,” he said.

Earlier, Turkish President’s spokesman Inrahim Kalin announced that the trilateral summit of Russia, Turkey and Iran on Syria will be held in Turkey in August.

Iran, Russia and Turkey are guarantor countries that brokered a ceasefire in Syria in December 2016, leading to the Astana talks, which are running parallel to the Geneva peace talks.

The leaders of the three countries regularly meet for an assessment of the process which focused on Idlib and adjacent areas – the last stronghold of the rebels – and a political process which awaits the formation of a constitutional committee

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The new round of talks would address the latest situation in de-escalation zones in Syria’s Idlib, return of refugees, release of prisoners, and formation of a committee that will rewrite Syria’s constitution.

The two-day meeting is being attended by delegations of the Syrian government and the opposition, the Syrian ceasefire guarantor nations (Iran, Russia, Turkey) and international observers – the United Nations and Jordan.

Russia’s Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev is heading the country’s delegation to the Astana talks, according to the Tass news agency. Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal is leading the Turkish delegation, while the Iranian delegation is headed by Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari.

The 10th round of the Astana Peace Process was held in Sochi, Russia, in July.

During the ninth meeting held on May 14-15, all parties had agreed to maintain the de-escalation zones.

Conflicts erupted in Syria back in 2011, when a small group of opposition forces took up arms against Damascus.

Soon, however, a mix of international terrorists and paid mercenaries mingled with and then largely sidestepped the armed Syrian opposition groups, effectively turning the Arab country into a battlefield for foreign governments opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

But the Syrian military, with advisory military help from Iran and Russia — and a Russian aerial bombardment campaign — has retaken control of much of the country, and the conflict is generally believed to be winding down.

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